From “Taiwan Cultural Regeneration” to “ Folk Custom Record”：A Study of Wu Man-Sha in Post-War (1945-1995)

• Main Authors: Wang-JingJi, 紀雯菁
• Other Authors: Wen-Sun Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/11354872524479745314

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 歷史學系碩博士班 === 100 === The thesis is a research of Wu Man-Sha's literary activities in post-war (1945-1995).The study explored the various ways which Wu expressed his concern for Taiwan's politics and society in different phases when he was faced with changes in the political and social environments, as well as changes in his own life. The research aims to build up a picture of Wu Man-Sha's literary activities in postwar period. During the Japanese Colonial Period, Wu Man-Sha joined Taiwanese literature circles because of Xu Kun-Quan's recognition of his ability. When Wu was the chief editor of “Fong Yueh Tabloid,” he held the belief that literary works should reflect the changing of times, and he began to concern about issues relating to woman's social status, people at the bottom of the social class and folk cultures. Based on the same belief, Wu worked as a journalist and a column writer to express his concerns for the society. From 1945 to 1950, Wu Man-Sha began to promote Taiwan Cultural Regeneration by means of a variety of literary activities. First, Wu expressed his expectations for the new era through editing the magazine “Shin Phon” and writing novels. Then, before the Nationalist Government withdrew to Taiwan, Wu organized a society to welcome the Government, spread the ideas of Three Principles of the People, advocated the concept of motherland, and engaged in cultural rehabilitation. These activities corresponded to Implanting China policy which had been promoted by the Government. Later, Wu worked as a journalist with the Taiwan Shin Sheng Daily News and he turned to report government construction, which might attribute to government policy. However, equally important to note is that Wu not only had paid attention to economic problems occurring after the restoration of Taiwan, but also reported issues regarding recreation, folklore, well-being, transportation and education. After 1951, Wu Man-Sha worked as a social journalist with “Public Opinion News”, “Ethnic News” as well as “Ethnic Evening News”, and he portrayed social problems realistically in the way of covering social news. For example, the column “All Kinds of marriages are in crisis” had revealed the manifold reasons why Taiwanese women got divorce. In addition, Wu had written many news reports and articles about adopted daughters, which showed his deep concern about the phenomenon of adopted daughters in Taiwan. From 1960 to 1995, Wu's literary activities had changed, and he was an active writer writing about customs of old seasons and folk tales for a number of newspaper supplements. It is clear that after 1950, Wu recorded the customs and traditions in Taiwan basing on his own experience and observation. Moreover, Wu tried to make the readers reflect on Taiwan's society by writing folk tales. In postwar times, even though Wu Man-Sha faced political and social changes, he made efforts to fulfill his social responsibility and duties of being an editor, journalist and writer by adopting a perspective formed during the Japanese colonial period to observe the times and the world around him.